The original pro-Democracy protesters in Syria have been tortured, killed, or fled the country. The rebels are a vicious, mostly jihadist bunch. Assad is a thug. Anyone with half a brain would stay away and let the participants club each other bloody. But no, Russia is sending jets and weapons and the US is sending F-16s and Patriot missiles to Jordan. The outside powers, including Arab nations, don’t care about pro-Democracy protesters, they only care about their interests. The revolution has been betrayed and blood is on many hands indeed.The chances of a region-wide war increase daily. There are no good guys left.
The other big change in the Syrian conflict is the way it’s very visibly spreading. It spread to—it spread to Lebanon. The Hezbollah has been taking part in the latest fighting. Anti-government forces have been moving, showing positions in Lebanon. And in Iraq, you know, we’re practically back to the days of the civil war. I mean, you mentioned that, according to some figures, 500 Iraqis died last month in May; according to the U.N., it was a thousand. I’m not quite sure why the disparity is there. But you can sense in Baghdad, where I was also quite recently, that people are very tense. They feel that they’re very close to a sectarian civil war between Sunni and Shia, and the number of being killed has reached the level that it was last seen in 2008, five years ago.
Everyone knows that things could get very nasty very quickly. Yet everyone continues to rush into the maelstrom. This is madness.